Jean O'Brien is a mistress of endings. Dangerous Dresses is full of poems which turn, then arrive gracefully at a point of neither under, nor overstatement... A stronger presence than these poetic relationships, though, are familial ones. Mother is a Time Traveller, as is daughter, their identities confused, over-printed or stacked inside each other's like a 'Russian Doll;. This is O'Brien's heartland, a territory she makes her own without sentiment or irony, ...This is effortless writing, graceful and exact as any pirouette in its insight.

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